Santa Claus

We had a wonderful Christmas. The kids and Bobby and I opened presents Christmas morning. Santa brought our whole family MarioKart for the Wii. The kids got new hats and gloves and lots of pens, pencils, and notebooks. Santa brought Jayce a balloon art kit, Maggie a Cat Training kit, and Lakin a Princess drawing book. One of their favorite things, though, was the letter that Santa left. He said that he couldn't wait to take their drawings home to the North Pole so that Mrs. Claus could see them. How exciting!

Maggie's teacher the dentist

During that exciting, eventful week of school right before Christmas, Maggie walked around with her fingers in her mouth, wiggling and wiggling her loose tooth. Mrs. Sheehan called Maggie up to her desk and said, "Let me take a look at that tooth." Maggie said that the next thing she knew, Mrs. Sheehan was holding Maggie's tooth in her hand! Maggie's got another one that needs to come out. I don't think it can wait until the kids go back to school, though!

Christmas Party

Bobby and I attended the Scale Source Christmas party at the Melting Pot on Saturday night. We so rarely dress up and go out, so I thought I'd show everyone that we really do clean up OK. Notice the picture that Lakin took. It looks like I have a star coming out of my head!

Lakin's Gingerbread House

This was such a neat school creation! Lakin's Pre-K class built Gingerbread Houses. Look closely and you'll see that the basic structure of the house is a milk carton. How clever is that! She loved this project and loved sharing the candy with everyone in the family.

The Littlest Christmas Tree

Jayce's big night as Santa Clause was wonderful. So much of our family was present to see Jayce perform. Nana and Papa, Kim and Greg, Korbyn and Kaci, Stephen and Morgan, Dusty and Sarah and Cayson, Dennis and Mundy were all there. Ms. Becky, the elementary leader at church was also in attendance. The message of the play was that Christmas is about love, not being selfish. Praise God that the kids attend a public school that allows them to put on a Christmas play with a message that captures the spirit of the season. The kids all did a fantastic job. After Jayce shed his Santa costume, his face was bright red. Daddy asked him if he had been nervous, and Jayce said, "No, dad. That costume is HOT."

Jayce's School Christmas play

I just wanted to remind everyone that Jayce makes his debut as Santa Clause tomorrow (Thursday) night at 6:30 at Parkland Elementary. He is very excited and a little nervous. We'd love to have everyone come and cheer him on!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

The ultimate in birthday gifts was delivered yesterday for Jayce. Nana and Papa took him to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. The boy was bouncing off the walls when they brought him home. Some highlights:
1. They were so close to the stage that they could see the people's faces and even the buckles on their shoes!
2. The head guitarist hurt his knee so no jumping around the stage for him.
3. Texas Roadhouse has awesome rib baskets.
4. The pyrotechnics are so bright that Nana thinks she got a sunburn.
5. The new song Appalachian Mountain is awesome, but the word Appalachian is really hard to say!
6. Nana can say Appalachian so she repeated it for Jayce about five times before he got it.
7. It is really tough to decide between the new CD, a key chain, or a T-shirt. See below for what won out.
My boy had an incredible time and I am so excited that he appreicates music the way his Nana and Mom do.

O Christmas Tree

My husband loves me. I know that's a funny way to start a blog titled "O Christmas Tree," but after Thanksgiving dinners and two nights away from home, my hubby climbed up into the attic and brought all of my Christmas decorations down on Friday. He put together the tree for me and moved boxes around anytime I asked. He's such a sweetie considering that's certainly not his favorite thing to do.

On the other hand, my kids showed just how much like me they are! They loved putting decorations here and there and decorating the Christmas tree was like a super-cool party. They sang and danced to the Christmas music that I played and we had a generally fantastic time. It was tough to get natural pictures of this event because of where the Christmas tree is located, but the posed pics are still fun because you can see the pure joy in their faces. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love Thanksgiving!

I can't wait for the big day! I'm hoping to spend the night at mom's house Wednesday and Thursday and hanging out with the family. It will be the place to be for sure! Mom expects 14 overnight on Wednesday and 17 on Thursday. Whew! The kids are excited to. Lakin made us the cutest Happy Thanksgiving card at her kinderdoor class. Be on the lookout for photos. Maybe it won't take me two weeks to get them posted ;)

Veterans Day

Thank you so much to all of our family (especially Daddy), friends, acquaintances, and those we've never met for your faithful service to our country. God bless you!

Parkland Silent Auction

Parkland school held its silent auction Thursday night. The school had a huge amount of items to bid on. We bid on quite a few but only wound up winning a package of protein bars and a kitchen basket. (Bobby was bummed that someone snuck in a final bid on a really cool golf package.) We purchased the calendar that Lakin made featuring her as the calendar girl posing with the appropriate garb for each month (a towel and goggles for June, an umbrella in April). The big story of the night, though, was the raffle. Meme's name was drawn and she won a Wii! Jayce called her to let her know and asked, "Meme, do you want to keep it at your house or would you like to keep it at ours?" Ha! Kids crack me up. I told Meme that I think she has found the perfect Christmas present for three munchkins.

Happy Halloween!

We had a blast at our church's Trunk or Treat. There were tons of fun games, inflatables, and a safe place for the kids to run off on their own. Their costumes rocked! (Thanks Meme!) We got so many compliments, and a few people even "got" it that I, the English teacher, was dressed up as a witch from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Oklahoma Children's Theatre

The fall session of Jayce's acting classes ended on Thursday afternoon with a performance. Jayce debuted as the narrator, a Black Cat, telling the story of the ninjas who did not want to live next door to the three little pigs. There were super heroes that saved the day and everything! Jayce also performed his monologue for the audience. He did a fantastic job. He is so expressive. A star is born!

Busy Saturday

After Maggie's morning gymnastics class, we headed out to Fort Cobb. Meme made the kids' Halloween costumes, so we went to her house to pick those up and hang out and visit. The kids couldn't wait to try on the lastest creations by Meme. She made a beautiful white dress and an incredible hat for Maggie's toadstool costume. I loved hearing her tell about her and Papaw working together to figure out how to make this incredible hat. I guess she had one idea and Papaw had a very different idea. I can't imagine Papaw in on the action, but I'm pretty sure he's proud of his contribution! Lakin's OSU-color cheerleader costume is adorable, and Jayce's Mario overalls are PERFECT! We watched the OSU game while we were there. They were SO close! A win over Texas would've been awesome. Next we headed to Carnegie to Liberty Theater to eat show dogs and to watch High School Musical 3. We all loved it! The music was lots of fun. After the show, we headed out to Nana's house to say hi and to pick up Halloween cupcakes and popcorn balls that Nana had made for everyone. We got to see Uncle Stephen and Morgan for a few minutes before finally heading home. Whew! (Pics with the Halloween costumes will be posted later!)

GWL Part 4 -- MagiQuest

Jayce and Jaxon participated in the interactive treasure hunt that took them to all parts of the hotel. The boys purchased a magic wand and followed the clues in their MagiQuest book to locate special pictures, treasure chests, etc. that led them one step closer to becoming Master Magi. Aunt Mundy was in charge of this particular activity, although Daddy and Uncle Den got in on the action as well. This is a super popular activity and it seems like everyone in the building was involved!

GWL Part 3 -- The Spa

Each kiddo was treated to an extra-special treat in addition to the water park. The girls got to go to Scoops, the spa for girls under the age of 12. Maggie chose to have a strawberry soak while Lakin had a chocolate soak. They each got to pick two different colors of nail polish and had a flower design painted on their thumbs with a rhinestone in the middle. All the while, they ate gummy worms and relished in the fact that Mom was not welcome to hang around. My girls are growing up!

Great Wolf Lodge Part 2 -- The Water Park

AKA....Mom and Aunt Mundy did a lot of screaming! Whew! They had some cool slides in this place. The Howlin' Tornado and the Coyote Cannon were Jayce's favorites. I must say that I did some major screaming on the Howlin' Tornado. Jayce told me that you drop 12 feet, and I'm telling you....it felt like more. Maggie loved riding the Alberta Falls with me, Daddy, Uncle Den, Aunt Mundy -- anyone who would go with her. This was the only ride she was tall enough to ride and she had to do so with a grown-up. She also really enjoyed the Wave Pool. Lakin's favorite was the Crooked Creek, but she was on the lookout for the boys in the tree house that were trying to dump buckets of water on the people in the creek below. We had to take her out of the water twice because her lips turned completely purple. Poor girl! The treehouse had two smaller slides that all of the kids enjoyed as well as all kinds of places that spurted water, water guns and you name it! There was only one possible way out of the park, so Jayce, Maggie, and Jaxon got to go on their own for part of the time. Ah, independence! They loved it. Here's some shots from the water park....I was nervous about the camera, so I didn't take a whole lot.

Great Wolf Lodge Part 1 -- I've turned in to my parents

The Great Wolf Lodge was super cool. I mean, how many place can you stay where there is an indoor water park? And a kids' spa? And an incredible interactive treasure hunt? But Geez Louise! For what we paid per night for the room, one would think that said room would have some insulation so that we couldn't hear the conversations next door and be awakened by the slamming of the doors in the hallway. Even so, the kids had a very good time, and we will probably do this one again....only for just one night.

Lakin's visit to the Orr Family Farm

Lakin's first ever field trip was Oct 14. The kindergarten and pre-k classes went to the Orr Family Farm. She was very excited about getting to take her first ride on a big yellow school bus. Isn't it funny how they love those things when they are little? I took the day off and joined her for the adventure. We listened to information on the different types of pumpkins. Lakin's favorite is the Cinderella pumpkin which looks like the pumpkin that the fairy godmother turned into a coach. We took a hayride to the pumpkin patch where Lakin picked out her very own pumpkin. Lakin got to pet a sweet bunny rabbit and a huge, very large pig! She road a pedal car and we took a train ride around the farm. She decided to ride home with me and was fast asleep shortly after we left the parking lot.

Blogging

As expected, I'm not too good at this blogging thing. I think I'm going to blame it on the fact that I'm on the computer all of the time at work so I don't want to be on it at home. Yea, let's blame it on that. On that note, I'm requesting help from my fellow faithful bloggers. I am not about to sit down and read how to make my page look cutsie, but I want a cutsie page. Sarah, the next time we're together, will you help a sista out? Now, prepare yourselves for a flurry of blogs as I catch you up on the latest.

Jayce's Big News

I picked up a happy guy after school today. After tryouts, call backs, and a lot of waiting, Jayce found out today that he got the part that he wanted in the 3rd grade Christmas Play. So, mark your calendars, because Jayce will be playing Santa Clause in "The Littlest Christmas Tree" on December 4 at Parkland Elementary. And a Star is born!

Parent Teacher Conferences

I had a crazy day last Thursday. It was a nice crazy, though, because I attended conferences for all three kids and heard wonderful things. Lakin's teacher wants to take her into the computer lab and test her because she believes that she is reading some. She teaches kindergarten in the afternoons and is willing to work with her some if that is the case. She told a story about holding up a book with a picture of an apple tree. Lakin said, "Are you going to read Apple Blossoms to us?" Apple Blossoms was the name of the story, but she reasons that even if she were guessing the title, she would have guessed something like Apple Tree or Apples.

Maggie's teacher thinks she is a hoot. She is very bright and way above second grade on her reading level. She is encouraging her to read some of the upper level 2nd grade books, though, because, as she says, Maggie is still a just a 2nd grader and a young one at that! She told me that she has to remind Maggie to take care of herself first since she does seem to be always concerned about everyone else. (In a nice way, of course) She also told me that the other day she told Maggie to save up all of her hugs until the end of the day and to give her one big one then because she kept having to stop what she was doing to get her hug! Too funny!

Jayce's teacher said he is doing wonderfully in his classes. He too is way above grade level in his reading. She thinks he has a wonderful attitude and said that she would never have guessed that he was a "new" kid at the school. In fact, she told me that she thinks Jayce could make friends with a bump on a log!

It's nice to go to parent/teacher conferences and get good reports. I'm proud of them!

Baptism

I saved the best part of the weekend for last. Maggie and I were baptized on Sunday morning. Maggie told her Sunday school class that you don't have to get baptized but it's like following in Jesus' footsteps. God has blessed her with a special spiritual gift. For me, this was a symbol of my obedience after being saved many, many years ago. What a precious thing to share baptism with my daughter. And to make it even more special, Bobby baptized us. Maggie is so little that she is hard to see in the baptistry, but I thought I'd share some pics anyway. I'll never forget her bobbing up and down in the water, just waiting for her daddy to dunk her! It was so cute!

Saturday evening

We headed over to Meme and Papaw's house after the big party. Meme made us homemade pizza, and the kids played and played outside. Mundy and Dennis brought down Jaxon's 4-wheeler, so the kids turned Papaw's yard into a racing track. Jayce and Jaxon also discovered a mama and baby salamander underneath a big rock in the yard. I thought Mundy was going to come unglued when Jaxon brought it over to her, but I loved it. Those are cool little critters!